Many business people still have the perception of alternative funding as a last resort. This is despite a recent survey of 1,500 UK SMEs which revealed that a third of them don’t even understand what alternative finance actually is - or how to access it.

The UK alternative finance market is the largest in Europe, with a rapidly growing value of £1.78bn; equity-based crowdfunding is one of the fastest growing sectors within this market, with a growth of 600% between 2012 and 2013. The sector had a market value of £78 million in 2014, at an average growth rate of 420%.

UK Bond Network is a peer-to-peer platform which uses its syndicate of experienced investors to provide fast and flexible finance to UK SMEs. The finance is structured as corporate bonds, issued to the investors by the borrowing business.